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Science
Gimme Shelter
Best Friends Animal Society has a sprawling campus in the canyons of Utah, but its influence has grown to reach almost every shelter in the country
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See Amazing Images That Reveal the Strange, Otherworldly Beauty Hidden in American Factories
Photographer Christopher Payne provides a peek into the surreal aesthetics of industry in the United States
Smart News
The Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever Seen Was So Rare, It Seemed Impossible. Now, Astrophysicists May Finally Have an Explanation
How Did Humans End Up Smooching on the Lips? It May Have Started Out With a 21-Million-Year-Old Kiss
A Frida Kahlo Painting Just Became the Most Expensive Work by a Female Artist Ever Auctioned
Urban Raccoons Are Showing Signs of Early Domestication, With Shorter Snouts Than Their Rural Cousins
More Than a Dozen NASA Spacecraft Have Laid Eyes on Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS. Now, You Can View New Images That They Captured
Latest Features
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History
The Lost City of the Silk Road
Researchers are uncovering what they think is the metropolis of Marsmanda, an iron-making city that could rewrite the history of the famed trade route
History
A Grand New Design
A train wreck that caused the death of more than a dozen commuters near the turn of the 20th century was the impetus behind a monumental project that changed the urban landscape
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Most Popular
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Special Report
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America’s 250th Anniversary
To mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting the people, places and events that shaped the United States’ fight for independence from Great Britain
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Photo of the Day
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Podcast
Smithsonian Podcast: There’s More to That
Smithsonian magazine covers history, science and culture in the way only it can — through a lens on the world that is insightful and grounded in richly reported stories. In There’s More to That, meet the magazine’s journalists and hear how they discover the forces behind the biggest issues of our time.
Latest Episodes
The ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ Sank Half a Century Ago. We’re Still Fascinated.
November 6, 2025 | 28 minutes
History
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Newly Declassified Records Suggest Parents Collaborated With the FBI to Spy on Their Rebellious Teens During the 1960s
As high school students across the U.S. embraced political activism, adults turned to the authorities to shield their sons and daughters from radical influences
Science
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Medical Students Are Learning Anatomy From Digital Cadavers. Can Technology Ever Replace Real Human Bodies?
From interactive diagrams to A.I. assistants, virtual tools are beginning to supplant physical dissections in some classrooms
Innovation
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From Collecting Whale Snot to Capturing Surprising Behaviors, Aerial Drones Are Giving Scientists a New View of Sea Life
The robots can hover over marine mammals and gather all sorts of information in a way that’s less invasive to the animals than researchers trying to approach them by boat or plane
Travel
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How Landlocked Idaho Became a Leader in Urban Surfing
Boise’s wave park is attracting outdoor adventurers—and the innovative public works project is inspiring other cities
Arts & Culture
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A Famed Street Photographer Chronicled What Christmas Looks Like Across America Over the Course of Decades
Lee Friedlander’s new book, “Christmas,” collects his work from all over the country on the topic of our sentimental and materialistic connection to the holiday
At the Smithsonian
See Amazing Images That Reveal the Strange, Otherworldly Beauty Hidden in American Factories
Photographer Christopher Payne provides a peek into the surreal aesthetics of industry in the United States